1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a guide element for a pressure system of an internal combustion engine, to a pressure system for an intake tract of an internal combustion engine, and to an internal combustion engine with a supercharging unit.
2. Description of the Related Art
An internal combustion engine comprises cylinders, combustion chambers assigned to the cylinders, an intake tract and an exhaust tract. The intake tract functions to supply an air quantity or an air-fuel quantity into the combustion chambers. The exhaust tract functions to discharge the burned air-fuel quantity from the combustion chambers. The intake tract has a pressure system that distributes the drawn-in air or air-fuel quantity to the individual combustion chambers.
Pressure oscillations occur in the intake tract and exhaust tract due to the opening and closing of the combustion chambers. These pressure oscillations have a great influence on a charge exchange of the internal combustion engine. Guide elements, normally in the form of pulsation dampers, are used to reduce pressure oscillations.
For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,848,281 discloses an internal combustion engine with a pulsation damper upstream of each inlet valve and downstream of each outlet valve in a cylinder head of the internal combustion engine. The pulsation dampers are in the form of integral constituent parts of an inlet duct having the inlet valve, and of an outlet duct, having the outlet valve. The pulsation dampers are designed to allow a gaseous flow medium in the form of a fuel-air mixture to pass through unchanged when the valves are open. If the valves are closed, a backflow occurs from the corresponding valve into the pulsation dampers counter to the original flow directions that prevailed when the valves were open.
WO 2008/032975 discloses a pulsation damper in an intake tract of an internal combustion engine. The pulsation damper has a Venturi-nozzle-like shape. Passage openings are formed in the region of the smallest diameter of the pulsation damper for the inflow of backflowing flow medium into the pulsation damper. A damper outlet diameter corresponds substantially to a damper inlet diameter of the pulsation damper.
The disclosed guide elements function for damping and reducing the pressure oscillations that exist in the intake tract. However, to increase the power of the internal combustion engine it is necessary not only to realize an even distribution of cylinder charges of the cylinders of the internal combustion engine, but also to avoid a so-called follow-up charging effect in the case of internal combustion engines in the form of Otto-cycle engines. This may be realized by a guide element that eliminates disruptive oscillations in a pressure system of the intake tract of the internal combustion engine and, due to this eliminating action, may also be referred to as a depulsor.
It is thus an object of the invention to provide a guide element for a pressure system of an internal combustion engine. It is a further object of the invention to specify an improved pressure system for an intake tract of an internal combustion engine and an improved internal combustion engine with a supercharging unit.